June 23, 2018: Arkansas is turning into a favourite playground for Aditi Ashok. The brilliant golfer from Bengaluru showed her class and potential through a spectacular six under 64 at the Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Arkansas. Aditi is lying second alongside six other golfers, just one stroke behind the leader Gaby Lopez.
Minjee Lee, Catriona Matthew, Nasa Hataoka, Moriya Jutanugarn, Lizette Salas and Mirim Lee had also posted 64 on a day of low scoring golf.
Moriya had emerging PGA TOUR star Kiradech Aphibarnrat following her progress through the day. The Thai golfer came out to Arkansas to keep a promise and come back to watch his compatriot play an LPGA event. Kiradech and the Jutanugarn sisters are all from Thailand.
“It’s great, he kept his promise to come back to see me when I got my first win on Tour and he did,” said Moriya after her 7-under, 64. “It is very nice. He’s like one of my brothers and it is very nice to see him and I am really happy for him as well because he is having a very good year this year.”
“(She’s) Incredible,” responded Aphibarnrat. “I mean, (she) never missed a fairway, hit every single shot inside 15 feet, which is from player to player, I can’t do it. I believe that if they allow the PGA TOUR players to get into the field, I’m not going to play. They’re going to kick my ass. If you come out here you can recognize how good they are. The course is nice, the setup was great, the crowd was lovely.”
The other Jutanugarn, Ariya, was on the bag for Kiradech during the Par-3 contest at The Masters in April. The Jutanugarn sisters were also out to watch Aphibarnrat at THE PLAYERS Championship.
Aditi scored in spurts, making back to back birdies at three different spots through an eventful first round. The Indian matched her lowest score on the LPGA, with a lovely birdie at the final hole. That 64 also came at Pinnacle, in the second round of the same tournament last year.
“I just like this golf course a lot,” said Aditi. “I was comfortable from the start. I started with two birdies and then I kept hitting good iron shots to the green, so I had a lot of birdie chances.”
Aditi played some fluent golf through a spotless first round in the Arkansas Championship. The 20-year-old missed just a single green in regulation and made every fairway in her trek around the course on Friday.
The Indian is looking to score her first victory on the LPGA circuit. She has three top ten finishes thus far – T8 in the Marathon Classic last July, a T7 in the LPGA Mediheal Championship and T6 in the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic this season.
After starting the day with a pair of birdies, Aditi never really looked back, making the most of her familiarity around the course.
“I was comfortable from the start,” explained Aditi, reflecting on her first ever post round lead in her nascent career on the LPGA. “I started off with two birdies and then I kept hitting good iron shots to the green, so I had a lot of birdie chances.”
“It’s always easier, I feel, the second year on Tour,” added Aditi. “Like this golf course, I know it a lot better than I did last year. I think I shot 64 here twice, so I think I really like it. I’m going to look forward to the next two days.”
Aditi took birdies at the 1st, 2nd, 8th, 9th, the 14th & 15th before putting a cherry on her cake with another excellent birdie at the 18th hole.
Top Scores
1, -8 (63) – Gaby Lopez
T2, -7 (64) – Minjee Lee, Catriona Matthew, Nasa Hataoka, Moriya Jutanugarn, Lizette Salas, Mirim Lee, Aditi Ashok
